


Raising Tobio

by bloopy



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Asthma, Autism, Bullying, Claustrophobia, Dyslexia, Everyone Loves Kageyama Tobio, Fever, Fluff, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Kageyama Tobio is a Mess, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sensory Overload, Sickfic, taking care of kageyama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29399010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloopy/pseuds/bloopy
Summary: A collection of one-shots featuring sick or hurt Kageyama with people taking care of him! Feel free to request something in the comments!Chapter 3: Kageyama and BullyingChapter 4: Kageyama and Heart ProblemsChapter 5: Kageyama and Sensory OverloadChapter 6: Kageyama and A Bad DayChapter 7: Kageyama and Dealing With TraumaChapter 8: Kageyama and ClaustrophobiaChapter 9: Kageyama and Learning Disabilities (+bullying)Chapter 10: Kageyama and Dealing With Loss
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio & Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi, Iwaizumi Hajime & Kageyama Tobio, Iwaizumi Hajime & Oikawa Tooru, Kageyama Tobio & Karasuno Volleyball Club, Kageyama Tobio & Kindaichi Yuutarou & Kunimi Akira, Kageyama Tobio & Oikawa Tooru, Kageyama Tobio & Sugawara Koushi, Kageyama Tobio & Yachi Hitoka
Comments: 75
Kudos: 328





	1. Chapter 1

Kageyama was so excited! They were going to have a practice match today between the first and second years, so that they could start thinking about next year’s lineup. If Kageyama did really well today….then maybe Oikawa would teach him his serve!

Kageyama decided that he had to show up super early to make sure he could be in the best condition possible, so he got to school an entire 2 hours earlier than he was supposed to for weekend practice. 

To his surprise, he wasn’t alone. 

“Oh Oikawa-senpai. Iwaizumi-senpai!” Kageyama exclaimed when he got in. Iwaizumi grinned at him while Oikawa rolled his eyes. 

“Kageyama! What’re you doing so early?”

“I want to practice before our match against the second years…” Kageyama paused as he saw Oikawa glaring at the floor. He realized that Oikawa was probably upset because his practice got interrupted, so, swallowing down a little bit of disappointment, he continued, “I’m going to go practice over there so you guys don’t have to worry about me.” He pointed at the furthest side away from the two third years. 

Iwaizumi frowned, but before he could say anything, a third voice joined the conversation. “Oh come on now Tobio-chan. Don’t you want to practice with your senpai?” Kageyama and Iwaizumi both stared at him blankly. 

“Yeah Tobio-chan. Iwa-chan and I need a third player to see if his spikes are on par, so you go ahead and stand on the other side of the net okay? Help senpai out will ya?” Oikawa’s voice rang out with an unusual level of cheer. 

Kageyama nodded, confusion making way to excitement as he walked over to the pointed spot. Iwaizumi frowned and Kageyama waited while he had a heated whispered conversation with Oikawa, ultimately ending with Oikawa grinning and Iwaizumi growling at him. 

Finally, they got into their positions and began to practice, Oikawa setting for Iwaizumi as usual. 

After an hour, Kageyama felt ridiculously sore. He knew his upperclassmen were amazing, but they didn’t even take water breaks! Kageyama panted as he rubbed his stinging arms while Iwaizumi ran after a ball. Kageyama heard Iwaizumi come back and tried to get his breathing under control. 

Unfortunately, the tightness in his chest was only increasing as Kageyama began to see spots enter his vision. He tried to calm himself down some more, but nothing he did would stop the pain in his chest. 

A few heartbeats later, it hit him. 

Oh no. 

Not now! 

Kageyama lifted his head slowly, on one side of the net, his senpai were still arguing, having not noticed the predicament yet, on the other side of the court, his backpack. 

Kageyama tried his best to make his way to his backpack, but suddenly he felt a new kind of pain. Before Kageyama could do anything, he felt his limbs lose control, spasms running across his arms and legs as they no longer responded to him, finally causing him to collapse. 

Iwaizumi paused from his argument with Oikawa at the sound of the thud. He looked up and fet his heart stop. His underclassman was on the floor, clearly unable to breathe, as his legs and arms kept twitching. 

“Kageyama!” Iwaizumi sank to his knees next to him as he tried to calm his racing heart. Kageyama looked up at him, taking a few seconds for his gaze to focus before whispering: 

“Front….pocket.” 

“Front pocket?” Iwaizumi repeated as Kageyama nodded. Iwaizumi put two and two together before yelling out: “Oikawa get his bag!”

Iwaizumi turned around when he heard no movement. Oikawa was frozen in place, staring hollowly at Kageyama. Iwaizumi groaned before getting up and slapping his friend across the head. 

“Make yourself useful and make him comfortable. This is no time to freeze up!” Iwaizumi snapped before running to get the bag. 

Fortunately, Oikawa snapped out of his stupor and had sat himself down on the floor with Kageyama’s head in his lap. Iwaizumi brought the bag and pulled out the first thing his hand touched in the front pocket. 

“An inhaler?” He looked at the small bottle before shaking it and placing it next to Kageyama’s mouth. Oikawa gently lifted Kageyama up, leaning him against his chest as he opened his lips to accept the inhaler. 

One puff, two puffs, three puffs before Kageyama finally began to calm down. 

He took in a shaky breath before reaching out to massage his cramped legs. Oikawa and Iwaizumi noticed what he was doing and each took a leg to massage. Finally, half an hour later, everyone was much calmer and Kageyama seemed like he was becoming stable. 

“So….you have asthma?” Iwaizumi looked at Kageyama who looked down sheepishly. 

“Yeah. I spasm when I don’t get my inhaler on time.” Kageyama muttered softly. 

“Does the coach know?” Iwaizumi asked again. 

Kageyama began to blush as he slowly shook his head. Iwaizumi looked at Kageyama incredulously, but before he could say anything:

“Tobio-chan you absolute moron! You need to tell us these things! What if Iwa-chan and I weren’t here? What would have happened to you!” Oikawa yelled furiously at the younger, who had the decency to look chastised. 

Iwaizumi sighed before placing a hand on Kageyama’s shoulder. “It’s for your own safety okay? No one will think any less of you as a player just because you need to take this thing a few times.”

Kageyama nodded slowly before sighing. The attack was the largest he’d had in a while, and he could already feel the toll on his body in the form of exhaustion. He began to blink rapidly to try and keep his eyes awake, but he could feel himself losing the fight. He decided he needed to get up fast so he could stop wasting Oikawa and Iwaizumi’s time, but before he could, he felt himself being picked up. 

“O-Oikawa-senpai?” Kageyama asked sleepily as his senpai carried him on one hip. 

“You need to rest so I’m taking you to the clubroom.” Oikawa answered his  adorable kouhai. He was finally beginning to calm down after that scare. I mean sure, Kageyama wasn’t his favorite person but that look of panic on his face when he fell….Oikawa didn’t think he’d be able to get it out of his memories anytime soon. 

“Oh shut up.” He told Iwaizumi, who was walking alongside them with a smug expression on his face. “I’m only taking him there to sleep, I’m not staying with the idiot.” Iwaizumi held up his hands, saying nothing as a smile grew on his face. 

  
  
  


“Where are Kageyama and Oikawa?” Coach asked Iwaizumi an hour later when they still didn’t show up to practice. 

“Team bonding sir.” Iwaizumi replied, and left it at that. 

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Kageyama lay in bed trying to figure out if it was worth getting up to find water, or if he should just continue to slumber. His head was pounding so much that he couldn’t see straight, and his body alternated between hot and cold and plain annoying. He decided that water wasn’t important for anything and he would try to sleep off the headache. Unfortunately, before he could drift back off into slumber, the door to his bedroom slammed open. 

“Agh!” He flinched at the sudden assault of sound and light. 

“Awww he really is sick! I told you guys he wouldn’t skip for no reason!” The familiar voice of Hinata shouted. 

“Yes and you’re clearly making him feel better by yelling like a moron.” Kageyama didn’t often agree with Tsukishima, but this was one of the few times he would admit to it. 

Groaning with effort, he sat up and stared at his fellow first year teammates who had somehow entered his house and were staring at him with amusement (Tsukishima), concern (Yamaguchi), or confusion (Hinata). 

“Why are you guys here?” Kageyama finally groaned out. 

“W-well we know you live alone...so we thought we’d check up on you when you didn’t come to school or practice today!” Yamaguchi exclaimed earnestly. For the millionth time since he’d met him, Kageyama wondered how someone so nice could end up friends with someone so…..Tsukishima. 

“Also we came to give you your homework. Your teacher insisted because she doesn’t want you to fail her class.” Hinata piped out as he rummaged through his bag. 

“Well we saw that he’s alive and gave him the homework, let’s go.” Tsukishima tried walking away but was stopped by Hinata glaring up at him. 

“No! You can’t leave now Stingyshima! You need to cook!” 

Kageyama was barely able to focus, but even he could see the pain in Tsukishima’s eyes. 

“Who said anything about me knowing how to cook?”

“Gomen Tsukki!” Yamaguchi chirped out, not sounding sorry at all as he ushered his best friend to the kitchen. 

“You!” Hinata swiveled around and pointed at Kageyama, making the pounding get worse. 

“Seriously….stop talking.” Kageyama growled out, wishing that he didn’t tell Hinata where he kept the spare key to his house. 

Maybe it was because Hinata finally had the chance to look at Kageyama and see how he was doing, or maybe it was some magical older brother instinct, but he finally got a softer look on his face as he walked closer to Kageayama. 

“You’re burning up.” Hinata whispered as he put a hand on Kageyama’s forehead. Oh so  _ that’s _ why Kageyama felt sweaty but warm at the same time. 

Hinata rummaged in the bag before pulling out some pills and a bottle of water. “If you take these, I’ll go back to the kitchen and let you sleep. Deal?” Hinata continued to speak softly. Kageyama slowly nodded, the adrenaline of having his home invaded wearing off and causing him to feel even more tired than before. 

He quickly took the pills and the amazingly cool water before collapsing back onto the mattress. Hinata helped pull the covers up and just before Kageyama lost the battle with sleep, he felt something refreshingly cold on his forehead. 

  
  


Kageyama woke up later feeling much more refreshed, and with a much clearer head than he’d had all day. He blinked and noticed the time was almost 8pm. Great…..the whole day was wasted in bed. 

He tested out getting out of the bed, and was pleased to find that the medicine he took also took away his previous dizziness. Kageyama walked downstairs slowly, clutching the railing in case another dizzy spell hit. He entered his living room and:

“Wait you guys are still here?” he rasped out, his voice scratchy and hoarse. 

Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Hinata were sitting in his living room, all currently in the middle of studying-or teaching Hinata, and Kageyama could see a plate of food that was covered on the counter in the kitchen. 

“Of course we stayed! Did you seriously think we were going to leave you here alone?” Yamaguchi got up and ushered Kageyama to the couch where he sat down in relief. 

“Besides, Tsukki made your favorite!” Hinata chirped out as Tsukishima hissed at him to stop calling him that. 

“Now take some more medicine and water then you can have a couple bites of curry.” Yamaguchi prompted Kageyama as the other two turned back to their books. 

Kageyama kept staring at them in slight confusion before Tsukishima loudly sighed. 

“Look. These two wouldn’t let me go home until you proved you’re okay. Unfortunately, you just  _ had _ to sleep for most of the day so now we’re forced to spend the rest of the night here so you might as well stop looking at us like a lost child at the mall, and eat the stupid curry.” 

As Kageyama blushed and got to work finishing off the food left for him, he felt a warmth enter his heart as he was surrounded by the bickering of his friends.

(Of course, Hinata and Yamaguchi looked at each other slyly when Tsukishima wasn’t paying attention, because no one had recommended sleeping over until he suggested it, but they decided it was better to not mention it.)

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> special thanks to Guestee for the prompt! I hope I did it justice and to everyone else, please feel free to give me more ideas in the comments!

Oikawa and Iwaizumi were on their way home from their extra practice session, which had unfortunately been cut early because Oikawa’s sister was coming to visit tomorrow and he needed to help his mother prepare the house. They made their way out of the school, almost at the gates when….

“Iwa-chan. Do you hear that?”

“Hear….what?” Iwaizumi scrunched his nose in concentration. They stood in silence for a few minutes before Iwaizumi jolted. 

“Is that….crying?” He asked.

“I think...it is. Do you think we should…” Oikawa trailed off as Iwaizumi nodded causing both of them to turn back and make their way to the source of the noise. As they got closer, Oikawa got a sense that there was something very familiar about the noise he was hearing, but he couldn’t put a finger on it. Finally, they turned the corner and….

“T-tobio-chan?” Oikawa whispered as Iwaizumi sucked in a breath. 

Kageyama was lying against the side of the wall, his shirt lifted up showing an impressive coloring of bruises. Tear tracks ran down his face as his hands were shakily pressing on his torso, trying to assess the damage. Next to him, was a collection of paper snippets with scrawling handwriting that looked too familiar. Kageyama looked up, and when he finally registered who he was looking at, he scrambled backwards as fast as he could. 

“W-wait! No! Don’t come near me please!”

Oikawa and Iwaizumi stood frozen in place. Of all the things they expected, this definitely was at the bottom of the list. Iwaizumi slowly put down his bag before holding up his hands in a calming fashion. 

“Okay Kageyama we won’t come close. But can you tell us why? You need someone to look at those bruises for you okay?” Kageyama shook his head while glancing around frantically to make sure those other boys weren’t here. 

“Tobio-chan…..who wrote this?” Iwaizumi turned around at the horror in his friend’s voice. Oikawa had picked up one of the papers on the ground, the words on it chilling him to the core. 

Iwaizumi grabbed the paper from Oikawa and read out loud: “Pathetic pieces of trash don’t deserve to get taught by their senpai. Leave Oikawa and the rest of us alone if you know what’s good for you.” 

Iwaizumi felt his blood boil. Now things were starting to make sense. Kageyama had seemed so much more tired recently, and if he thought back more, he could remember the glares and snide remarks constantly made by his  _ teammates  _ when the coach mentioned anything to do with Kageyama. 

“Kageyama. Please let me see how hurt you are. I promise you that  _ no one _ and I mean  _ not a single person _ will lay a hand on you like that again. Just….let me see those wounds okay? There’s no one else around-trust me we would have seen them by now.”

As he spoke, he slowly began making his way towards Kageyama. Kageyama didn’t move, only stared into Iwaizumi’s eyes that were turning glossier by the second. Finally, Iwaizumi stopped right in front of him and held out his hand, waiting for permission. Kageyama stared at his senpai for a couple more seconds before nodding his head. Immediately, he felt himself being pulled into a gentle hug, enveloped by a larger and stronger body. 

It was the first gentle touch he’d felt in so long that Kageyama felt completely overwhelmed by it causing him to burst into tears. He felt someone come in from his other side and realized that Oikawa had moved closer as well, coming from the back to hug him and completely shield his body from anyone that might be watching. 

After a while, Kageyama sniffed as his tears dried up. He rubbed a sleeve across his eyes and tried to think of something to say, but before he could, Oikawa spoke.

“Tobio-chan. Do you want to go home? It’s getting colder and I don’t want to check your wounds out here.” 

Kageyama nodded slowly. “Kay...sorry for bothe-”

“No!” Kageyama and Iwaizumi flinched at the sudden volume from Oikawa. 

“No you are not allowed to say you are a bother okay! You aren’t and I….I’m so sorry I ever made you feel that way. I just….look. Let’s patch you up and then we can talk about this okay? Is there anyone at home who can help out?” 

Kageyama blinked a few times, trying to process the sudden influx of information before shaking his head. “Miwa is in uni…..and grandpa’s in the hospital.” he muttered softly as he looked down again, missing the concerned glances of his senpai. 

“Alright well, looks like we get to have a sleepover.” Iwaizumi replied as Oikawa helped lift Kageyama onto his back. They began making their way home, Oikawa only pausing to collect the rest of the papers. 

  
  


Finally they arrived at the Kageyama household. Oikawa and Iwaizumi immediately got to work taking care of their underclassman. 

“Alright Tobio-chan you’re gonna have to take off your shirt and pants okay? We need to see how bad the damage is.” Kageyama nodded as he was helped to remove his clothing, the sight of his torso and legs making both the older boys hiss. 

Oikawa could tell that some of the bruising was older than others, and there was a suspicious lump on his ankle too, almost as if it had gotten sprained but not healed properly. Iwaizumi brought the bruise cream in his bag that he always carried around, as well as some bandages from the kitchen and they methodically worked in silence. 

Kageyama hissed at the sudden coolness but was immediately rewarded with relief as the cream began to work. His ankle was wrapped and elevated with ice, constant playing and not letting it heal made it close to fracturing. 

Eventually, Kageyama was fully treated, placed in new pajamas and sat on the couch while Iwaizumi went to make dinner for him. Oikawa brought over a blanket and wrapped his kouhai with it before sitting next to him and pulling him to his side. 

Kageyama felt something fall on his cheek before looking up and realizing that Oikawa had tears leaking out of his eyes. 

“Oikawa-senpai? Are you okay?” he asked. 

“Don’t worry about me Tobio-chan okay? I’m fine. I also want you to know that everything written on those papers is  _ wrong. _ ” Oikawa snarled out the last word, already mentally planning different ways to get back at the bullies on his team. 

Kageyama nodded slowly as Iwaizumi came back with some sandwiches and milk for all three of them. As they ate, the older boys could see that Kageyama wasn’t up to talking about what had happened just yet, so they spent the entire meal sticking to lighthearted conversation that mostly consisted of Oikawa being teased by Iwaizumi. 

Once they finished eating, Kageyama could feel himself getting drowsier as he sat on the couch in between his senpai. Eventually, he lost the battle with sleep as Oikawa felt a head droop on his shoulder. 

Oikawa stared down at the adorable little first year that had been slowly worming his way into his heart. Kageyama still had some bruises peeking out here and there, looking out of place on the body of someone filled with such child-like innocence. Oikawa and Iwaizumi nodded at each other, vowing to get revenge but right now, right now they brought an extra blanket to the huddle and slept, surrounding their Kouhai in their warmth. 

Kageyama smiled in his sleep, for the first time in a long time feeling full, happy, and well taken care of. 

  
  


(the bullies were expelled from the school under the threat of making the situation more public via Oikawa's father who worked at the local newspaper. Kageyama was constantly doted on by his upperclassmen, who welcomed him with pride to Aoba Johsai and when kageyama scored the game winning point against Shiratorizawa using the serve that Oikawa taught him, no one was prouder than Oikawa himself.)

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Demise Rose for giving me this prompt! Hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> Also to anyone else that gave me a prompt, I will get to all of them and reply to your comment when I do! 
> 
> If anyone has more ideas let me know in the comments, enjoy!

Kageyama  _ knew  _ it was going to be a bad day when he woke up with an uncomfortable feeling in his chest. He  _ knew _ that this meant he needed to rest and take it easy today. He  _ knew _ that going to practice and doing even more practice than he was already doing was a bad idea. He  _ knew _ all of that…..

  
  


But he couldn’t bring himself to not go. 

  
  


He had decided that the best idea was to just do the bare minimum and take lots of breaks during the 2 hour after school practice session. He even resigned himself to not doing any extra serves or sets after the two hours were up, which would set him back but it was nothing he couldn’t make up later.

Unfortunately for Kageyama, their coach had taken a keen interest in him as a player, wanting someone who could live up to Oikawa’s legacy after his graduation in a couple of months. This meant that when the coach told everyone there was going to be a practice match between all the players, he surprised everyone when he chose to put Kageyama in on one of the teams, instead of the usual backup setter for Oikawa. 

Normally, Kageyama would have been over the moon at the prospect of showing off his skills to Oikawa, in the hopes that he’d be able to finally agree to teach him something, but now, Kageyama stood off to the side, clutching his chest and wondering why this opportunity had to come today of all days. 

“Kageyama get a move on! We’re all waiting for you!” The coach barked out when he saw that Kageyama hadn’t moved yet. 

Kageyama nodded his head apologetically and ignored the snickers from the other players as he got into position, mentally calculating the way to do the least amount of movement possible. 

Halfway into the game, Kageyama felt….more or less okay. His chest still hurt and he knew he was going to need a lot of rest tomorrow, but it didn’t feel  _ worse _ which was the most important part. He saw a water bottle enter his field of vision.

“Oh. Thanks.” He looked up at Kindaichi and Kunimi who had come to sit next to him in the break. 

“You’re doing amazing out there Kageyama! I can’t believe you can almost go toe-to-toe with the third years!” Kindaichi spoke, excited for his yearmate. 

“Almost is the key word here, don’t you think.” Oikawa spoke from the side as he walked up to them, Iwaizumi scowling behind him as always. 

“Still have a ways to go Tobio-chan!” Oikawa smirked. 

Kageyama bolted upwards, lifting himself up to his full height (sure he was the smallest first year, but that wasn’t going to stop him). “Just wait and see Oikawa-senpai! I’m going to be the best!”

Oikawa blinked in surprise for a second before leaning over Kageyama. “Oh really? I. Can’t. Wait.” Each word was emphasized by a sharp poke to Kageyama’s chest. 

Kageyama was about to respond, he really was, but unfortunately his body chose that moment to burst into an enormous amount of pain. It brought him to his knees making him dizzy and barely aware of his surroundings. He heard some shouting and footsteps and just before his head could hit the ground, he felt someone catch him. 

He looked up, the darkness slowly creeping into his vision as his eyes locked onto his senpai’s terrified gaze. He could hear someone crying, most likely Kindaichi, but before he could reassure them that he was just  _ fine _ and this wasn’t a big deal, he felt himself lose the last threads of consciousness as darkness overtook him. 

  
  
  


Kunimi tapped his legs impatiently. He wasn’t normally a fidgety person, but right now, all he wanted was to see the haggard looking nurse walk into the waiting room to ask for the family of Kageyama Tobio so they could get up and see him. He looked to his right where Kindaichi had finally calmed down and cried himself to sleep. To his left, Oikawa and Iwaizumi were speaking in hushed tones, making him wonder if there was some vital piece of information he was missing. 

What Kunimi  _ didn’t _ want to do was relax and slow down. Relaxing meant his brain would wander, giving him thoughts and scenarios he couldn’t bear to think of. Unfortunately, they had been in the room for hours, everyone else already home, waiting on either the nurse, or on Kageyama’s family who hadn't shown up. Kunimi swallowed down his annoyance at the faceless figures. Their kid was in a hospital and they didn’t show up. 

Before he could shift his thoughts, he saw the nurse walking up to him. He sat up immediately, nudging Kindaichi awake. 

“Well...you boys must be good friends with Tobio-kun. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you when he wakes.”

None of them said anything, waiting for what they wanted to hear. 

“Right. He’s going to be fine, but he will need to be kept under observation for a couple of days before we can release him. Now…” the nurse’s voice became very quiet and they all had to lean in to hear what she was saying, “Tobio-kun lives alone as far as I know, seeing as his grandfather is a permanent resident here. I don’t know how close you all are, but between you and me, he should live with someone for the next couple of weeks so they can keep an eye on him and I’d rather not have to get the police involved.”

Kunimi gaped silently as he processed the overwhelming amount of information that he just received. Before he could say anything to the nurse, about how he would be more than happy to take Kageyama home with him and throw him off a cliff for hiding vital information about himself like that, someone else spoke up first. 

“Tobio-chan can come with me. We have a spare room on the ground floor which should be perfect for him.” Oikawa spoke, his voice hollow, yet filled with an emotion that Kunimi couldn’t place. 

The nurse smiled gently. “Alright I’ll get some paperwork ready then, but first, follow me.” 

The four boys stood up, each filled with a measure of fear as well as relief that the waiting was finally over. They walked slowly down the fluorescent-lit halls towards a room in the pediatric ward. 

Inside, Kunimi heard a sharp intake of breath, but whether that was from him or someone else, he couldn’t tell as he was too busy staring at Kageyama. 

Kageyama had always been the smallest of them, but in a hospital bed, surrounded by machines beeping and wires all over the place inserting things into his body, he looked like a  _ child _ . Kunimi watched as Iwaizumi walked up and sat on the chair next to the bed, before gently picking up one of the small, smooth hands and rubbing a thumb across the knuckles. Oikawa followed soon after. 

Kunimi glanced at Kindaichi, and squeezed his shoulder before walking towards the bed himself, ready to stand vigil for as long as it took. 

  
  
  


The next morning, the four boys woke up with extremely sore necks, and the ringing of their parents’ voices in their heads. (No one’s parents were too happy about them spending time in a hospital overnight, but when they found out Kageyama’s living situation, they became slightly more accepting.)

Fortunately, soon after the nurse came to give them breakfast, Kageyama began to stir. 

Kageyama felt really dizzy. He felt a lot of other things too, like exhausted and worn out, but the dizziness was prominent. He blinked slowly as he became aware of a familiar ceiling and winced internally. Looks like his estimate over how bad the situation was, was slightly off. 

He slowly became aware of hushed voices and something grabbing his hand. Turning to the right, he was greeted by the smiling, tired face of Iwaizumi. 

“I-Iwaiz-”

“Shhh. Don’t talk! Here, have some water first.” 

A cup was gratefully placed in front of Kageyama’s lips as the cool water trickled down his throat. He tried sitting up, and after hearing more hushed whisperings, felt several pairs of hands helping him and rearranging pillows. He turned and saw three of his other teammates all staring (or in Kindaichi’s case, crying) at him with relief. 

Before anyone could say anything, the nurse walked in. Kageyama saw the look on her face and groaned, already knowing the lecture. 

“Hi nurse Asono.” he whispered softly.

“Don’t you  _ hi _ me, Kageyama Tobio. How many times do we have to go over this same situation! You know what your limits are, you’re a smart boy, but if you keep insisting on pushing past them, you’ll need a pacemaker inserted in your heart before you’re even 20, or worse.” She lectured as she began taking his vitals and fluffing his pillows to make him more comfortable. 

“Wait this has happened before?” Oikawa spoke out, shock evident in his tone. 

“Oh you boys don’t know? He has a heart condition…. _ a condition that gets worse when he strains himself physically _ .” she growled out the last part towards Kageyama, who had the decency to look sheepish and try sinking into the pillows. Kageyama decided that now was not a time to look up, because he could feel four pairs of eyes glaring at him. 

“Thank you for informing us Nurse Asono. Please be assured we will follow the guidelines you give us  _ very seriously. _ ” Iwaizumi growled out as the nurse nodded and left. 

Once she was out the door, the confrontation began. 

“Are you serious right now?”

“How could you not tell us!”

“How long has this been going on!”

“Why do you still play!”

A hundred other questions were fired from the boys, as Kageyama tried to keep up with them. Eventually he banged his hand against the railing of the bed to get their attention. 

“I was born like this. But my grandpa….he always loved to teach me volleyball. I loved to play, and now that he’s sick….it almost feels like the only way I can have him beside me is if I continue to play….” Kageyama’s voice trailed off. 

He wanted to say more, to try and justify a choice that he knew was reckless, but before he could, he was surrounded by warmth. 

“O-Oikawa-senpai?”

“Shhh. I understand your reasoning, but this isn’t worth your life. Please...don’t do something you’ll truly regret later. I’m sure he wouldn’t be happy to know what you’re doing either. We’ll work out a way for you to play but Tobio-chan...please take care of yourself.”

Oikawa kept whispering into Kageyama’s ear as more warmth surrounded him, enveloping him from all sides. Kageyama knew that this was the start of something new, but he couldn’t help the tears rolling down for what he was about to lose. Thankfully, he had some great teammates beside him to help out. 

  
  
  


Epilogue:

“Oikawa-senpai. Carrying a bag doesn’t count as strenuous exercise.” Kageyama deadpanned as he felt his bag being taken from him as he walked towards the gym. 

Iwaizumi laughed. “Yeah but it’s been two months of this. You should be used to trashykawa’s mother henning by now.” 

“True. it’s not as bad as yours.” Kageyama replied. 

(The first week after his release from the hospital, Oikawa and Iwaizumi insisted on carrying him everywhere, much to his displeasure. He thought they would let up, but if anything they became more overbearing over time to the point where Kunimi was convinced that if Kageyama sneezed in the middle of class, he would find them both in front of him, tissues at hand and ready to whisk him away to the nurse.)

Kageyama grinned, sure it was overbearing, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the lovely screm for suggesting this! I hope I did justice to your prompt and feel free to request more!

If there was one thing that Kageyama didn’t like, it was feeling like he was a  _ burden. _ He hated that word. Hated that it was something he had heard all his life, whether it was teachers whispering in the corner when they thought he couldn’t hear (or worse, couldn’t understand) what they were saying, or when it was other kids complaining loudly about having to partner up with him in class or club. 

It’s not like he wanted to come off as rude, or angry, or difficult, but sometimes things were just  _ too much _ and everything went into overdrive making it hard to think straight. Things had gotten better recently though, with his move to highschool, but some days were worse than others. This was one of the worst days. 

The day started off bad, and just got worse. He overslept, making him skip breakfast. Then by the time he got to school, it had begun to rain and he was soaked through. Then he realized his homework was at home (on the one day he actually did it on time) making the teacher give him that look that made Kageyama’s skin crawl, the one where they looked at him like  _ of course the poor child with a mental disability didn’t do the work _ which immediately made Kageyama’s mood take a nosedive. 

Suffice to say, by the time it was time for club, Kageyama was a stormcloud of anger and anxiety as he walked around with his hands flapping as he tried to focus enough to play. The itching in his skin started as they were setting up, making Kageyama become slightly agitated as he knew what was coming. It had been barely a month since he joined the team, and he hadn’t had a spell this bad since highschool started, making his anxiety skyrocket.

Normally, Kageyama would be able to get lost in the sounds of the ball getting smacked from hand to floor, or the sound of shoes squeaking on the gym floors. Today though, he was unable to focus on any of that as the irritation kept building up inside of him, making him more and more anxious. He stood to the side of the court, hands clenched in fists as he tried to resist the urge to cover his ears. He knew that his teammates were staring at him (in concern? No-why would anyone be concerned about him), but if he could just get this under control then they could  _ move on and he wouldn’t be a burden. _

Unfortunately, everything was just  _ too loud too bright too much- _

“Kageyama.” A soft voice spoke.

Kageyama blinked and suddenly Sugawara was standing there, a small frown on his face. Kageyama felt his throat clog up as he tried to apologize but was unable to get the words out, but before he could say anything, Sugawara continued. 

“Would you like to come with me to the clubroom to get something for Shimizu?”

Kageyama knew what Suagwara was doing, but right now he wanted nothing more than to get out of the harsh lights and overwhelming amount of sound, so he walked quickly behind Sugawara to the storage room, feeling all eyes on him. 

Sugawara closes the door slowly before sitting down, causing Kageyama to do the same. Kageyama felt something being pressed in his arms and saw a water bottle. He clutched it tightly in his hands as he curled in on himself, tapping the bottle with his eyes closed as he started to calm down and get his thoughts in order. 

Kageyama didn’t know how long he and Sugawara sat there in silence, but by the time he dared to look up after the itchiness and anxiety ebbed away, Sugawara was sitting just as he was at the beginning, relaxed like no time had passed at all. Kageyama felt Sugawara’s gaze shift to him as he said:

“I think we found what Shimizu was looking for, don’t you?”

Kageyama nodded, still not trusting himself to speak as they walked out the room. He braced himself for the glares and whispers but to his surprise, no one….said anything. Everyone was working on their own practice, and even Coach Ukai and Takeda-sensei barely spared them a second glance as they walked out. 

“Alright people! We’re going to stick to solo practice today instead of a practice game mostly because you guys still  _ absolutely suck _ at serving and I think that’s more important than a practice game.” Coach Ukai said as he noticed the two setters unsure of what to do. 

Kageyama nodded and went to work on his serving, and throughout all of practice, no one acted like anything had happened making Kageyama feel very confused. Isn't this the part where the whispers and side glances begin? Why are they all acting normal? None of those questions got answered, but as he was walking out the clubroom later, he heard a familiar sarcastic voice call out: “Your majesty!” 

Kageyama turned around, to face Tsukishima, who from what Kageyama could see, looked uncharacteristically shy. Kageyama blinked as headphones were shoved into his hands as Tsukishima began to walk away. 

“They’re noise cancelling but I’m getting better pairs next week, so I don’t need these old ones anymore.”

Kageyama blinked as he stared after Tsukishima who was growing distant, before turning around to see Tanaka, Noya, Sugawara, Daichi, and Hinata all waiting for him to get meat buns, chattering away without a care in the world. 

Kageyama felt a burst of…..something in his chest, unsure of whether it was relief or happiness, but maybe….just maybe….this time he wouldn’t be a burden to anyone after all. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So parts of this is based on personal experiences I've had. Kags thinking he's a burden because of things people whisper and say about him is an unfortunate reality that people face and have to put up with, so here's a reminder to be kind to people always.
> 
> I hope everyone reading this knows that they are not a burden whatsoever and my Dm's on Tumblr (@perpetuallyc0nfused) are always open if anyone wants to talk or complain or rant to someone who won't judge.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one wasn't a request, it was more for me :)
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyyy!

You know those days where everything just goes wrong? Like no matter how hard you try? And for no special reason? Yeah. Kageyama was having one of those days right now. 

It started when he woke up for his morning run. The road he usually took was under construction which meant he needed to take a detour. This detour took him through parts of the nearby forest which was fine, Kageyama had used this road before. Today it was not fine though. 

Kageyama managed to trip over a stray root and bump his shoulder into the tree. That wasn’t the problem though. The problem was that this tree had a bee’s nest on it, and they were not happy at their home being distrubed. 

Kageyama reached his house covered in bee stings with a sore shoulder. 

The next bad thing was when he realized that he had no milk left even though he was sure he bought some. No milk meant that he couldn’t have cereal for breakfast and had to settle for eggs. 

The egg carton slipped through his fingers and crashed everywhere. Kageyama stared at the carton unblinkingly, not sure exactly how that happened. His feet were now covered in egg and the smell of eggs on feet wasn’t exactly a good one. 

Before he could do anything, his phone rang. 

“Hello?” Kageyama spoke.

“KAGEYAMAAAA! ARE YOU NOT GONNA COME TO SATURDAY PRACTICE? IT STARTS EARLIER THIS WEEK REMEMBER!” Hinata screeched out as Kageyama felt his heart drop. He forgot about practice starting earlier.

“O-of course I’m coming, you idiot!” Kageyama snapped before closing the phone and scrambling to get changed into his gym clothes before sprinting out of his house. 

Unfortunately, halfway to school he realized he had accidentally taken his old volleyball shoes instead of his new ones, which would explain the intense pain he felt in his feet. Kageyama decided he just had to suffer as he was already late and couldn’t afford to go back. 

A couple minutes later, it began to rain. Kageyama groaned as he became soaked in a matter of seconds with the sudden downpour, he had left his house without checking the forecast like he usually did. Kageyama continued to sprint to school before inevitably slipping on the wet sidewalk when a dog began to bark loudly out of nowhere, causing his pants to rip where his knees were skinned. 

Kageyama didn’t usually cry, but right now, he was getting pretty close to it as he glared at his bloody knees and scraped palms. He picked himself back up again, ignoring the throbbing in his ankle, as he sprinted (or tried to) towards the school. 

He burst into the gym where all eyes were on him. He knew exactly what he looked like:

Dripping wet, face covered in bee stings, scraped palms, bloody knees with tattered pants, leaning on one leg to avoid putting pressure on the other ankle, and on the verge of tears. 

“I-I’m here.” he spoke into the silence. 

“Um Kageyama. Are you okay?” Daichi asked. 

That was all it took for Kageyama to burst into tears to the shock of everyone in the room. 

“I-I’m fine Coach. I’m just going to go and-” 

“Go and sit down so we can make sure those cuts don’t get infected.” Kageyama heard Sugawara’s voice from beside him as he was gently led by Daichi to the bench. 

Sugawara sat next to him on the bench and made Kageyama lean on him, running a hand gently through his hair. Once he settled down, everyone got to work. 

Daichi gently took off Kageyama’s shoes (wisely choosing not to comment on the smell of eggs), before poking and prodding to make sure the ankle wasn’t too damaged. 

Kiyoko got the first aid kit before beginning to clean Kageyama’s bloody knees as Yachi and Yamaguchi each took one of Kageyama’s hands to clean the scrapes there. 

Asahi brought copious amounts of tissues from his bag and offered them to Kageyama who took them gratefully. 

Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Hinata ran to Coach Ukai’s store to get some meat buns because Kageyama’s stomach started to growl loudly, as Natira and Kinnoshita went to get as many milk cartons as they could carry from the vending machine. 

Eventually, things calmed down as Kageyama, newly bandaged and now with meat buns and milk in his belly, finally looked up at everyone. 

Before he could thank everyone, someone else decided to speak. 

“Your face somehow still looks worse than normal. I’m impressed.” Daichi began to growl at Tsukishima, before he saw him standing there holding a bag. 

Tsukishima took something out of the bag and threw it to Sugawara who read the label before exclaiming:

“Oh! Ointment for the stings on your face!” he exclaimed before immediately uncapping the tube and beginning to dab the ridiculously refreshing cream on Kageyama’s face.

“It was in my bag. Don’t start thinking we’re friends or anything now, King.” Tsukishima turned away from the stares of awe. Everyone wisely chose not to comment that Tsukishima’s hair was wet. 

Kageyama stared at his team, filled with some of the most random, annoying, loud, and kindest people he had ever met and felt more tears in his eyes. No one ever said that bad days couldn’t have happy endings after all. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: This chapter deals with some topics of PTSD from assault and recovery from that. there is nothing that is described in detail but I would rather not risk it. 
> 
> This chapter is for JongYu_91 and Demise Rose. I hope you both don't mind but I kinda mashed your prompts together. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy reading

For Kageyama, there weren’t a lot of places that he considered _safe,_ especially not after that Man and everything that happened with him. Even if it had been a year since he went to jail, Kageyama still found himself flinching at every loud noise in his house, double locking his bedroom door, and making sure that there was no one at home but himself.

Volleyball club had always been one of the places that Kageyama considered safe. Everyone there had shared interests, and everyone was doing an activity that calmed him down and brought him joy, which is why Kageyama always thought that no matter what happened, or how bad things got, once he stepped foot inside that gym, he would be safe. 

It took only one second to shatter that illusion. 

  
  
  


Kageyama had decided to stay behind after their practice game was over. Kunimi and Kindaichi were still around because they were on cleaning duty and kept getting distracted, making them take much longer than they should. The only other people around were Iwaizumi, who had gone to refill his water bottle, and Oikawa. 

After the practice game today, Kageyama was the happiest he had been in a while. He played a good game, and people said they were proud of him. Riding on this feeling of happiness, he decided that he would try to ask Oikawa about serving again, because he knew that if he wanted to get better, he needed to learn from the best. 

As he made his way over, he noticed that Oikawa was hunched over and panting. This must mean that he was training hard, which is what Kageyama would expect from his cool upperclassman. In the background he could hear Kunimi and Kindaichi bickering and he thought he saw Iwaizumi walk over to them with fresh water. Kageyama took another step towards Oikawa and smiled brightly as he asked:

“Oikawa-senpai. Can you teach me how to serve?” 

If you asked Kageyama what happened next, he wouldn’t be able to tell you. One second, he was looking at Oikawa, the next second there was 

Shouting

Pain

Running

Tears

_Fear._

Kageyama came to his senses in his living room, sitting in a puddle of his own vomit. He couldn’t bring himself to move any further, so he sat there, unable to do anything except cry. 

  
  


If you asked Oikawa what happened, he would tell you about the rage inside him, the jealousy and hatred that was twisting his heart and tinging his vision, making it red. How he moved almost instinctively raising his hands and-

Kageyama was on the floor looking up at him with a horror and fear that should never be seen in a child’s eyes. Oikawa would mention that the gym was silent, the other three in the back were standing in shock, unable to fathom what had just happened. Oikawa would tell you that the red rage had immediately disappeared the second his hand made contact with his kouhai’s cheek. 

That wasn’t the worst part though. The worst part came when Oikawa raised his hand again, to cover his mouth as he tried to hold back a sob. The second his hand moved again, something inside Kageyama seemed to snap. 

He scrambled back immediately, eyes flitting around wildly as he began spewing apologies, words that would haunt Oikawa’s dreams.

_I’m sorry._

_I’ll be good I promise._

_Please don’t punish me anymore._

_Please._

Oikawa would then tell you that Iwaizumi had made his way to the both of them, immediately headbutting Oikawa in the face while yelling at him to calm down. Kunimi and Kindaichi would follow behind and try to tell them to calm down but by then, the shouting had increased and there was chaos. By the time they calmed down, Kageyama had disappeared. 

  
  
  


The next morning, Kageyama stood up from the living room floor. Mechanically, as if his body was being controlled by another person, he cleaned the vomit off the floor and went upstairs to the bathroom. Unfortunately, the second he glanced at himself in the mirror, his mind went blank. Memories of the Man and of what happened yesterday bombarded his mind, mixing into something more twisted and terrifying causing Kageyama to almost collapse again. 

He took a shaky breath in before glancing at the time and noticing he was already late for school, so there was no point in showing up at all. Kageyama showered off the traces of vomit, went into his room, double locked the door and windows, and entered a fitful sleep.

  
  


At school, the club was in disarray. The coach was angry because Kageyama hadn’t shown up and the school wasn’t able to give him a reason why, his starting setter had a bruise on his face, the vice captain was emanating waves of rage, and two of the other first years seemed too distracted to focus at all. Finally, after Oikawa set a ball straight into another player's face, the coach called quits on practice and told them to screw their heads on straight before tomorrow, or else. 

Kunimi and Kindaichi had hoped, rather naively, that Kageyama would show up today so they could talk to him. Unfortunately, he didn’t. They also realized the very important fact that neither of them actually knew where Kageayma’s house was because he had only ever gone to their own. 

“If he doesn't show up tomorrow, we’ll ask the secretary for his home address.” Kunimi told Kindaichi as they walked out of club. 

“Y-you really think he won’t show up tomorrow?” Kindaichi replied, the wringing of his hands unable to hide his nervousness at the entire situation.

“Kindaichi. You saw how he reacted right? No one would be happy they got socked in the face, but people don’t usually react like that.” Kunimi’s mind kept replaying Kageyama’s reaction over and over again. Kunimi knew that it wasn’t normal, but he was too afraid to think why. 

The next day, Kageyama didn’t show up and after some begging, Kunimi and Kindaichi got his address. They made their way to his house filled with nervousness and worry. Finally, they reached a medium sized house with a clean looking flower garden in the front. Kindaichi stood behind him as Kunimi steeled his nerves and knocked on the door. 

Once

Twice

Three times with no answer. 

Kindaichi looked at the windows hoping for any sign of life, but they were all closed with the blinds drawn. They waited for an entire half hour, before Kunimi commented that maybe Kageyama wasn’t home. Deep down, they both knew that wasn’t true but decided to try again tomorrow. 

Kageyama had heard the knocking. He knew it was probably someone from school. He _knew_ that it was probably his friends coming to ask why he skipped two days of school, but he couldn’t. The second he heard the knocking he froze unable to think or breathe properly. Eventually, he heard some voices speaking outside and realized it was Kunimi and Kindiachi. Kageyama wanted to open the door, he really did, but he couldn’t bring his legs to move. Eventually, he heard them walking away and Kageyama was finally able to breathe again. 

This continued for an entire week. Kunimi and Kindaichi would come and knock, with Kageyama ignoring them. 

Oikawa would show up to school each day looking worse than the previous day, with Iwaizumi’s concern now alternating between how Kageyama was doing, and how his best friend was destroying himself with guilt. 

Finally, after a week of knocking, Kunimi and Kindaichi got an answer. 

“Y-yes?” They heard a small, shaky voice from behind the door. Kunimi’s eyes lit up as he and Kindaichi stood up straighter. 

“Kageyama! It’s me, Kunimi. Kindaichi is here too. Can-can we come inside?” Kunimi asked the last part after a beat of hesitation, unsure if he should be pushing those boundaries just yet. 

There was silence and Kunimi began to think he overstepped a line, but then they heard a click and the door slowly opening. Kageyama stood in the doorway, looking skinnier than ever with bags under his eyes so large that they looked like bruises. 

They stood staring at each other, unsure of what to do next before Kageyama moved aside and motioned for them to come in. After settling down on the couches, the awkward silence returned until Kageyama decided that it was probably his turn to speak.

“Hello.” 

“Hey Kageyama. I-we it’s just…” Kindaichi kept tripping over his own words before finally blurting out: “We missed you!”

Kageyama blinked. “You guys...missed me?” 

Kunimi nodded in agreement. “Of course we did. You’re our teammate. We were worried about you.” 

“B-but why?”

Kunimi and Kindaichi looked at each other in confusion. Kunimi replied: “Why….were we worried?”

“Why do you….care?” Kageyama whispered the last word so softly the others had to strain themselves to hear him. 

Before Kunimi or Kindaichi could reply, kageyama continued, his voice getting steadily louder and more agitated. 

“Why would you care about me? No one cares about me! I don’t deserve it. He said I don’t deserve it….” Kageyama began to hiccup as tears rolled down his cheeks. Kunimi’s mouth was slightly ajar. He knew there was a _lot_ to unpack but right now, he had a friend to comfort. 

“Kageyama…..can I come closer?” He asked slowly. Kageyama nodded in the middle of his sobbing. Kunimi sat next to him and Kageyama launched himself at his teammate (maybe even his friend) and kept on sobbing, emotions completely overwhelming him. Kunimi rubbed slow circles before asking if Kindaichi could come and sit as well. Kageyama became sandwiched between them, surrounded for the first time in a long time, by warmth and human touch that didn’t want to hurt him. 

Eventually, everyone calmed down and Kageyama dried his face with a tissue. Seeing Kunimi and Kindaichi had reminded him of another person. 

“Is Oikawa-senpai still mad?” he finally asked.

“No way not at all dude. If anything I think Oikawa’s mad at himself.” Kindaichi replied quickly. 

“But why? Wasn’t it my fault?” The other two shook their heads quickly before Kunimi decided to ask about the elephant in the room.

“Oikawa shouldn’t have hit you, but I think he’s also doubly mad and worried because….Kageyama you….kinda freaked out after he did. Like not in a way Kunimi or I would freak out. Is..everything okay?”

Kageyama tensed, feeling the memories creeping in. He shook his head trying to push them back before replying: 

“I’m okay now.”

Kunimi and Kindaichi decided that pushing him to talk would only make things worse. 

“Kageyama. Do you want us to spend the night here? We could ask our parents for permission.” 

“Thank you. But I’m fine being alone.” Kunimi and Kindaichi looked at each other sadly before realizing they had to get home. They left with a promise to come back tomorrow. 

  
  


The next day at school, Oikawa was sitting alone in break, ignoring the whispers about his strange behaviour. He heard the sound of footsteps approaching him and before he could snap at Iwaizumi to leave him alone, another voice spoke:

“Oikawa-senpai. Can we talk to you?” Oikawa looked up at Kunimi and Kindaichi who were standing there, worry written on their faces. Iwaiuzmi stood not far behind them. Oikawa sighed and got up, leading them to the clubroom for some privacy. 

In the clubroom, Oikawa and Iwaizumi looked at their kouhai, no one speaking until finally, Kindaichi broke the silence. 

“We saw Kageyama yesterday.” 

“What!” Oikawa and Iwaizumi exclaimed. 

“Is he okay? Has he been ill? Is he hurt?” Iwaizumi rapid fired questions while Oikawa stood in silence trying to get the sudden mental image of a broken Kageyama out of his mind. 

“He’s doing fine Iwaizumi-senpai. Well-” Kindaichi looked at Kunimi unsure of how to continue. 

“He’s okay physically. Mentally is another issue altogether, but me and Kindaichi agree that something happened to him before that made him react that way. We’re going to see him today, if you guys want we can ask if you can come and see him. Oikawa-senpai, he asked about you as well.”

“He didn’t tell you what happened to him huh?” Oikawa asked softly, almost too scared to think of the possibilities. The younger kids shook their heads. 

“Personally I’d be happy to see him in person myself. If you guys could ask for permission that would be great.” Iwaizumi told them while Oikawa nodded. 

Kunimi and Kindaichi promised to ask, before returning the next day with the news. 

“Kageyama said yes….under one condition.” Kunimi looked up nervously. 

“What’s the condition?” Iwaizumi asked, already feeling like he knew what it would be. 

“Kageyama...said you can both come but only if he isn’t left alone with Oikawa-senpai...at all.” Kindaichi muttered, afraid of his senpai’s reaction. 

“That’s fine. I expected something like this.” Oikawa replied quickly before continuing. “I just want to make it up to him. I’ll do anything he wants.”

  
  


The four of them stood nervously at Kageyama’s front door. After a few minutes, the door opened and Kageyama stood looking more wary than Kunimi and Kindaichi had seen so far. He didn’t say anything, only moving to the side and leading them to the living room. 

After everyone sat down, with Kunimi and Kindaichi sitting on either side of Kageyama, Iwaizumi broke the ice. 

“Kageyama. It’s good to see you.” Iwaizumi smiled warmly.

“I-its good to see you too senpai.” Kageyama replied softly. He glanced upwards quickly, before bringing his gaze back down to the floor. 

“I’m sorry for how I reacted.” Kageyama spoke. Immediately there was a flurry of noise from all sides as they tried to tell him to stop apologizing and that none of it was his fault. Oikawa remained silent throughout the entire thing, only staring at Kageyama with tears in his eyes. 

Finally, the other three quieted down. Oikawa took that as his chance. 

“Tobio-chan.” He spoke softly, trying to insert as much care as he could into those words. 

Kageyama’s head moved upwards, but his eyes didn’t meet Oikawa’s. Oikawa took that as his cue to continue. 

“Tobio-chan I don’t _ever_ want to hear you apologize for reacting to something that hurt you. This is all my fault okay and I will apologize every day for the rest of my life for making you feel scared around me if I have to. It shouldn’t have happened, no matter how bad I was feeling.” 

Everyone waited as Kageyama seemed to process the words. Finally, he gave a small nod. “Okay.” Kageyama still didn’t look Oikawa in the eye. 

Kunimi wasn’t sure who started, but they dissolved into some idle chatter about nothing important. Kunimi could slowly feel Kageyama becoming less tense, and when they said goodbye to him, he almost looked at Oikawa with a smile. 

It became a routine of sorts for the four of them to come over to Kageyama’s house, and not really talk about anything important. Kageyama slowly began allowing Iwaizumi to sit near him and even giving him hugs and head ruffles. 

  
  


The progress with Oikawa was much slower, and any other person may have quit, but not Oikawa. Oikawa refused to break the routine, no matter how little Kageyama talked to him, no matter how little he looked him in the eye, no matter how some days, he didn’t look in his direction at all because the flashbacks were too much. 

Finally, after an entire month of the routine, with Kageyama also coming back to school (not club yet though), Kageyama greeted Oikawa by looking him in the eye. 

Kageyama had decided that now that the memories were under control, he owed his friends an explanation. 

That evening was an emotional one. Kageyama described what the Man used to do and say to him, he told them about how he did things to Kageyama, that Kageyama didn’t know were bad until the police discovered what was going on. Kageyama spoke, unable to look any of them in the eye as he stood alone in the living room about how there was no room for him in the orphanage and he begged them to not be put with another foster family. Kageyama spoke and cried. The others cried too. Finally, after an entire hour of speaking to the point where Kageyama’s voice became hoarse, he finished, still standing alone staring at the floor. 

No one was quite sure how to react, still trying to process what they had heard. Finally, Kageyama heard footsteps approaching him, stopping outside his personal space. 

“Tobio-chan.” Oikawa’s voice was hoarse from crying. “Can-can I come closer?”

Kageyama paused, remembering how the Man never asked for permission, never called him a nickname, never spoke with such warmth and concern, before looking up at Oikawa and launching himself at his senpai knowing that he would catch him. 

Soon Kageyama was surrounded by all sides with his friends, the ones that didn’t give up on him, or question why he acted differently and he knew, he knew that he wasn’t alone anymore. For the first time in a long time, his house felt like a safe space again, and Kageyama couldn’t be happier. 

  
  



	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to popular demand and because I liked it so much, thank you to Demise Rose for requesting this prompt! I'm nil the idea intrigued me enough that if you guys like this, I may make another one shot focusing more on the senpai taking care of Tobio instead of shipping him off to the hospital, but I wanted to try something. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful dayyy!!

Kitagawa Daiichi’s volleyball club was one of its oldest clubs. As an old club, there were many established traditions that came about over the years, some better than others. One of the more problematic traditions was to pick one of the first years and play a prank on them to scare them and the others into never defying the upperclassmen. The pranks were usually cruel, like being forced to run across the entire school in only your underwear, or to lock someone in the gym for an entire night without telling them what was going on. 

Oikawa and Iwaizumi thought the tradition was stupid, but since their clubmates were so excited about it (mostly because they were all jerks but thats a conversation for another day), they decided that they would pick one of the stronger looking first years and just pull some harmless prank to get the other boys off their backs. The other boys didn’t like it at first, but they knew better than to argue with their captain and vice….for now. 

“Alright so….which of them should we prank?” Iwaizumi asked reluctantly after a month had passed and the older kids began to casually mention that they were thinking of doing a prank of their own if Oikawa and Iwaizumi didn’t get a move on. Their prank had something to do with eggs and a lot of public humiliation, and as much as Oikawa disliked Kageyama, he wouldn't want to see him or any other first year have to go through that just because some people had a superiority complex.

“I mean we can’t pick Kindaichi because he’d cry too much and I think we’d actually scare him. Kunimi may work though.” Oikawa mused as he stared at the first years. 

“Kunimi would work but you know those jerks want to see at least a bit of a reaction. Kunimi would just go along with whatever and they wouldn’t even count it. Or worse they’d probably decide to prank him themselves to get a reaction.” Iwaizumi grumbled. 

They both stared at the trio of first years and knew which one they would have to pick. 

  
  


To avoid making a big deal out of it, and because they were slightly mad at their teammates' immaturity, Oikawa and Iwaizumi chose to play the ‘prank’ when the first years were left behind to clean up so that none of the other members would be around. It was a simple prank: they would just tell Kageyama that they needed something from the ridiculously small supply closet and since he was the smallest he had to get it, then they would lock the door for a couple of minutes and let him out. Simple, right?

Wrong. 

The plan worked fine at first, Kageyama was always pleased to help his senpai-especially Oikawa, which made Oikawa and Iwaizumi feel slightly guilty over what they were about to do. They got into position and when Kageyama entered the tiny closet, Oikawa kicked the door closed making it lock automatically. 

Inside the closet Kageyama was confused. He thought that the door wasn’t supposed to be closed because you need a key to open it. Kageyama stood for a second wondering if he was supposed to panic before deciding that he should just sit down and wait. 

Now Kageyama wanted to sit and wait calmly, he really did. The only problem was that the longer he sat down in the closet, the closer the walls seemed to be getting. It wasn’t just the walls though. It felt like the ceiling was getting closer too. Kageyama’s breathing started to speed up as he tried to get some fresh air by banging on the door hoping that someone would hear him. He began to shake in fear wondering if the others had forgotten about him, and just when he thought things couldn’t get worse, they did. 

Kageyama began to feel a very distinct tightness in his chest underneath all the panic. This tightness meant only one thing: asthma attack. Kageyama began to panic even more when he felt his pockets and realized that his inhaler was still in his bag. His breathing turned into sobbing as he tried to think of something to do. Kageyama thought he heard voices shouting outside, but by then he was too out of it to focus. The last thing Kageyama remembered was the ceiling coming down to crush him in a loud bang and then

.

.

.

Darkness. 

  
  
  
  


Kageyama heard a really annoying beeping sound as he slowly regained his senses. He could feel something scratchy beneath his fingers, something that didn’t feel like his nice bed sheets at home. He groaned before finally deciding to open his eyes and immediately regretting it as they were attacked by harsh lights and white ceiling. 

Unfortunately, Kageyama recognized the white ceiling very well. He bolted up in the bed as he surveyed the room trying to remember why he was in the hospital. He was wearing one of those annoying thin gowns that made him cold, and both of his arms had IVs attached to them with lots of colored drips. There was an annoying clip on his finger for his heart rate, which was starting to speed up because he didn’t know what was going on. Thankfully, the door opened and someone with answers walked in.

“Kunimi?” Kageyama called out, his throat scratchy from disuse. 

To Kageyama’s surprise, Kunimi’s eyes began to water as he entered the room, with Kindaichi following behind him. Both of them were still in their gym uniforms and looked like they hadn’t slept in hours. 

Kindaichi of course, burst into tears as well when he saw Kageyama sitting up. After they both calmed down, Kageyama felt like he needed some answers. Surprisingly enough, both of his teammate’s faces became dark before Kunimi finally answered.

“It was supposed to be a ‘prank.’ Locking you in the supply closet and letting you panic for a second before unlocking the door. At least, that's what  _ they _ said. Unfortunately, the key that Oikawa-senpai and Iwaizumi-senpai had wasn’t working. We could hear you panicking inside the room and then suddenly there…..there was a thud and no more sound which made us all freak out even more. Iwaizumi-senpai busted the door open with his shoulder and we found you passed out on the ground, barely breathing. Kindaichi called an ambulance and you’ve been here since yesterday. We just came from club actually.”

Kageyama was silent, unsure of what to think about this new revelation. On one hand, it explained alot about his senpai’s strange behavior, but on the other….Kageyama felt a little hurt. He didn’t know what he did to deserve to be pranked and that made him feel upset. Kunimi and Kindaichi could see the turmoil on his face. 

“Don’t think about it too much Kageyama. It just means they’re not as nice senpai as we thought they were. Coach was super mad and they’ve both been suspended for a week so we didn’t even see them after the ambulance came to take you.” Kindiachi replied, having finally calmed himself down. 

Truthfully, Kunimi and Kindaichi wanted answers as well, but they knew that now was not the time to speculate why one of their year mates was targeted. Instead, they focused on distracting Kageyama and cheering him up by telling him jokes and showing off all the candy they snuck in for him. 

That night, while Kageyama was asleep, he could have sworn that there were voices in his room of two people filled with worry and some crying, but by the time he regained his full consciousness in the morning, there was no sign of anyone having been there at all.

Kageyama was allowed to return to school the next day as long as he promised to not exert himself too much. Club was strange without the captain and vice captain, and it was obvious that the coach wasn’t sure what to do about everything that had happened, but Kageyama didn’t care as long as he could still play volleyball. 

Finally, the next week came and the suspension time was up. The first years had forgotten about that until they walked into the clubroom and heard some very familiar voices in the middle of an argument. They were about to leave, not wanting to get caught up in a third year argument, when suddenly, they heard Kageyama’s name mentioned causing them all to freeze in their tracks. 

  
  


“Kageyama almost died and you want to do another stupid prank? Are you morons out of your minds or something?” Iwaizumi growled. 

“Just because you both wanted to take the easy way out and not give them a proper initiation, doesn’t mean we’ll accept that.” Some third year spoke. 

“Oh yeah? We'll tell coach what you’re planning.” Oikawa sounded livid. 

“You guys? After coming back from a suspension? No way coach will trust you after your mistake. Besides, I already heard he's planning on replacing you both.”

The first years gasped, not knowing that Oikawa and Iwaizumi could lose their positions. To their surprise, Oikawa answered and when he did, it sounded like he was crying. 

“We deserve it. Any punishment he wants to give us, it’s what we deserve. Besides, Iwa-chan and I were gonna drop our positions willingly. I mean how can we call ourselves the leaders of the club….if we end up hurting our kouhai to this extent, even if it was just an accident.” 

“Man Oikawa you’re a coward. It’s a good thing you’re stepping down so we can finally whip those first years into shape.” 

The first years didn’t know who did it, but someone threw the first punch after that comment. Within seconds the third years were fighting each other. Oikawa and Iwaizumi versus the other three from their class. They looked at each other unsure of whether or not they should help their senpai, when the coach and teaching assistant arrived and began yelling at everyone a lot. They told the first years to go and pack up the gym because no one was going to practice today, and the first years were glad to help. 

In the gym, Kageyama was standing deep in thought. Finally, he turned to his classmates.

“I think that Oikawa-senpai and Iwaizumi-senpai pranked me so the mean boys wouldn't. But the prank didn’t work.” Kunimi and Kindaichi nodded, having arrived at the same conclusion. 

Before they could say anything else, the gym door opened, and a beat up Oikawa and Iwaizumi walked in slowly. They stared at the first years, their eyes heavy with regret and apology before, to everyone’s surprise, Kageyama launched himself at his senpai.

“Thank you.” Kageyama’s voice was muffled by Oikawa’s chest. Oikawa squeezed his tiny, adorable, soft kouhai even harder as Iwaizumi wrapped his arms around the other side. Kunimi and Kindaichi explained how they overheard the third year’s conversation making Oikawa and Iwaizumi blush in embarrassment. 

“Tobio-chan you have no idea how sorry we are. Other than the fact that we shouldn’t have done it….we had no idea you would react that way.” Oikawa began to apologize after the hugging calmed down and they were all sitting in a circle with the first years patching up their senpai. (Kageyama had insisted on getting a first aid kit to treat his senpai, not wanting them to sit with bloody lips and knuckles any longer which made Oikawa and Iwaizumi feel worse.)

Kageyama shook his head. “It’s okay. I don’t like small spaces. They make me nervous and I have to take my inhaler, but you guys didn’t know that and it wasn’t on purpose so I’m not sad anymore.” 

The other four stared in awe at this small 12 year old, who was so quick to forgive and forget, and they each vowed to make sure that no one ever hurt this precious child ever again. 

(Oikawa, Iwaizumi, Kindaihci, and Kunimi became the founders of the Kageyama defense squad who always made sure that Kageyama was happy and healthy, no matter how much he hated their doting and wished they would stop acting like overprotective siblings. He secretly enjoyed the love and attention, but would never admit it in fear that they’d all somehow become even more clingy.)

  
  



	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! This chapter was requested by the lovely PorcelanaRota! Hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful dayyy!

“So….do you both want to tell me why you thought it was important I be dragged away from my quiet desk during one of the few times a day where I can have some peace and quiet?” Tsukishima growled out at Hinata and Yachi who both cowered slightly in fear. Yamaguchi facepalmed behind him, mentally wishing his best friend didn’t come off as so intimidating to people. 

Hinata and Yachi glanced at each other before finally yelling out: “Please help us Tsukishima! You’re our only hope!” 

“Help you with what? Yachi-san I apologize but teaching Hinata english gave me enough trauma.” Tsukishima would admit that Yachi was one of the few people on the Karasuno team he respected, purely because she took away his teaching duties. 

“WethinkKageyamaisbeingbullied.” Hinata blurted out. 

“Repeat that using actual words.” 

“We think Kageyama is being bullied.” Hinata spoke, still rushed but slow enough for the two taller boys to understand. Yamaguchi gasped and immediately began to imagine all sorts of horrible scenarios while Tsukishima stared at the two others incredulously. 

“Kageyama? Who’s dumb enough to bully him? The guy looks scary enough I mean he scared a child on the train last week just by trying to smile at it.” Tsukishima rolled his eyes at the memory. 

“Well….we don’t know for sure, but we’re almost positive.” Yachi squeaked out as Tsukishima’s gaze was shifted to her. 

“Ugh. Okay so say he was being bullied, why would you ask  _ me  _ for help? Why not someone like the idiots in second year that call themselves our senpai?”

“Well…..we don’t know if Kageyama would want them to know. But you both are friends so he wouldn’t mind if you know!” 

Yamaguchi knew now was not the time, but Tsukishima’s face when Hinata mentioned the possibility of being friends with Kageyama was too funny that he had to laugh. When he finally got himself under control, he turned to Yachi and asked:

“What would he even be bullied for? I can’t think of anything at all.” 

Hinata and Yachi glanced at each other before Hinata replied: “Well….have you guys ever been in the same room as Kageyama when he’s taking a test?”

“Can’t say we have.” Yamaguchi replied quickly before Tsukishima got the chance to say something snarky. 

“Okay so….Kageyama needs extra time on his exams. He has something called….dyslicia?” Hinata turned to Yachi in confusion before she quickly replied:

“Dyslexia. I’m sure you both know what that is. To be honest the english teacher only got Kageyama diagnosed last month so this is new to him too…..and we think he’s being picked on because of it.”

Tsukishima felt irritation growing inside of him. Sure, Kageyama wasn’t his favorite person, but what kind of jerks thought it was okay to bully someone for something they couldn’t control. A familiar feeling of protectiveness rose within him-the last time he had felt like this was the first time he ran into Yamaguchi and those other idiots were bullying him for his freckles. 

He looked at Yamaguchi who was staring at him with an unreadable expression before sighing deeply. “Alright. You’ve got my attention. Just show me who’s doing the bullying and what they’re doing.” 

Tsukishima rolled his eyes as the other three cheered, honestly it was his own fault for agreeing to become friendly with other people. 

  
  


The next day, four first years were  _ very  _ subtly stand in the hallway with a perfect view of Kageyama’s classroom. Just as Hinata and Yachi predicted, some of the guys from Kageyama’s class approached his desk. No one could hear what they were saying, but based on the look on Kageyama’s face (biting his lip angrily, eyes darting from side to side, cheeks flushing with either embarrassment or rage), they could tell it wasn’t anything good. The four of them planned to survey the situation today before cornering the guys alone tomorrow, so that Kageyama doesn't get embarrassed, but what happened next changed the plans for everyone:

Yachi gasped and covered her mouth with her hands in shock. “D-did he just…” she trembled, unable to continue. 

Hinata’s face had become dark. He looked up at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, whose faces had taken on a similar expression. Almost as if they planned it, the three of them began walking simultaneously to Kageyama’s desk where Kageyama was trembling, clearly trying to hold back tears as he stared at his work ripped to shreds. 

The bullies were too busy laughing that they didn’t notice the danger they were in until it was too late. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Tsukishima asked slowly, using his height to his advantage as he looked down at the boys. 

“U-um….you’re Tsukishima from class 4 right! We weren’t doing anything!”

“Oh really? Cuz from my point of view it looked like you just ripped his paper for no good reason.” Tsukishima jutted his chin out at Kageyama, who was staring at his teammates in shock as Yachi came next to him and began trying to stick the papers back together. 

The bullies either had no sense of self preservation, or had a death wish because the second guy continued: “Why do you guys care anyways? I mean do you know anything about him? He’s not only dumb….but my cousin went to midlle school with him and said he was nothing more than a tyrant  _ king _ .” The boy spat out the last word. 

Kageyama flinched, his shoulders hunching over in pain at the reminder of the mistakes of his past. That was all it took.

“You take that back.” Hinata growled, beginning to vibrate from rage. 

The second third guy, spurred on by the words of his buddy, leaned over Hinata menacingly: “Or what shorty? Gonna sic the king on us? Have him cut off our heads? The only head that should be cut off is his own worthless-” 

Everyone stared in shock as the guy doubled over in pain from where he was punched. That was all it took before the others all joined in the fight while Kageyama and Yachi stared open mouthed as they tried to calm the situation down. Eventually a teacher was called and they were sent to coach Ukai to be disciplined. 

The five first years sat in front of the coach as he stared at the report in front of him incredulously. 

“Yamaguchi threw the first punch? Did they write this correctly kid?” Coach Ukai stared at the first years, three of which had remnants of bloody knuckles and swollen lips. 

Yachi nodded proudly. “Yes sir. I was there.”

“And...you two followed.” Coach Ukai pointed at the other fighters, who nodded (Hinata), or smirked (Tsukishima). 

“Okay….and why did you all do this?” Coach Ukai was hoping for a reasonable answer. Hinata grinned brightly and replied: 

“Team bonding coach!” 

Coach Ukai facepalmed, being reminded for the 20th time why he doesn’t want children. 

(Of course the three of them were suspended but when Kageyama explained to Daichi and Suga what happened, they decided to reward the first years by taking them out for ice cream. Kageyama yelled at the others for a good 20 minutes about how their stupidity almost got them expelled before Tsukishima told him to shut up because only the volleyball club gets to call your annoying self king which made Kageyama cry. The bullies spread the rumor about the Karasuno volleyball team and after that, no one ever dared mess with a member of the crows anymore.)

  
  



	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people! Had a bit of a break cuz of an overload of work and an overload of my mental health but we are hopefully back now! This chapter was requested by: Shadowgeist and HanaNatsume (I combined your requests, hope you don't mind). Thank you for all your lovely comments! They make my day better and I love reading them when I'm feeling overwhelmed. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy and have a wonderful dayyy!!!!

_ Tyrant _

_ Dictator _

_ Bully _

_ Piece of Trash _

Whispers surrounded the setter of Kitagawa Daiichi wherever he walked. They followed him from the second he steps foot in homeroom in the morning, all the way until his teammates leave practice in the evening. Normally, ordinary people would quickly crack and break down under that kind of pressure and whispers, but that’s only if they were paying attention. 

Kageyama wasn’t paying attention. The whispers were merely whispers, nothing to concern himself with while he had more important things to worry about. More important things like…..arranging a funeral, figuring out how to pay bills, figuring out how to cook and clean in a house all alone giving him no time to himself to just grieve. All these things were much more important to whatever petty words were coming out of people’s mouths. 

Sooner or later though, he was bound to notice….and things were bound to crack. 

  
  


Two months after his grandfather’s death, Kageyama found himself in a bit of a situation. He didn’t realize that funerals were more expensive than they appeared, add to the fact that he was only 15 and had absolutely no idea how money worked or saving or budgeting. This meant that it took only two months for Kageyama to realize that unless he wanted to pull out the money from his grandfather’s savings account (that he was saving for them to go on vacation together when he was all better-but now was not the time to think of that), he needed to find a job. 

It took him a week of searching but he finally found a ramen shop nice enough to hire him in the evenings. Unfortunately, they didn’t do part time which meant that Kageyama had to take full evening shifts from 6pm all the way until 10pm. Also because he could only work in the evenings, it meant that he had to lock up as well which took another hour to do. This meant that after a full day of school and practice, Kageyama had to get home at 11pm, smelling of ramen and fried food, and try his best to do something about his studying before succumbing to sleep close to 1pm each night. 

The lack of sleep Kageyama was getting, combined with the lingering stress of losing his electricity or water for not paying bills on time, meant that Kageyama was more on edge than usual. He was already on fraying nerves because of his desperation to get to nationals even once while his grandfather was alive, now those frayed nerves had snapped. Volleyball became the only thing that would calm him down, and it frustrated Kageyama to no end when his teammates didn’t put in effort and slacked off when Kageyama  _ knew _ they were better than that. 

Finally, the whispering in the background came to light when one day, Kindaichi had had enough. 

Kageyama had sent over a set to him in the middle of practice, a bit higher than his usual sets but with Kindaichi’s height and jumping ability, it should have been an easy hit if he just put in a little more power behind his jump. Unfortunately, Kindaichi wasn’t in a good mood, having gotten a bad grade earlier, and now he had to deal with a setter who seemingly forgot how to set to his players. The set was off and Kindaichi was thankful the coach wasn’t around to witness his temper. 

The ball rolled on the floor behind Kindaichi, who could see Kageyama turn around, his face twisted with frustration. This time though, before he could yell at Kindaichi for missing his sets, Kindaichi snapped back first. 

“ _ Don’t you dare say anything you tyrant.” _ Kindaihci growled out in a voice that he had never used before. From the corner of his eye, he could see Kunimi and the others gaping at him. Sure they all used the nicknames, but this was the first time they had said anything to Kageyama’s face. 

Kageyama looked at him in shock. “Tyrant?” The confusion in his tone made Kindaichi even more angry. 

“Don’t you dare look so surprised. All this time you spend yelling at us and forcing us to do things we can’t do and you  _ dare  _ look confused as to why we’d call you a tyrant?”

“But I….just want to win.” Kageyama spoke softly, the confusion in his tone now molding with sorrow. 

“Yeah so do we. But not with you.” Kunimi finally called out. Kageyama looked around at the team, as if a fog lifted from his eyes causing him to truly see for the first time. He began to tremble as flashbacks of all the times he yelled and snapped at his team came flooding back. He couldn’t catch his breath and decided that it was best to leave. He quickly choked out an apology before grabbing his stuff and sprinting away. 

The next day, the coach announced that Kageyama had officially quit the team, a month before their last middle school tournament. Kindaichi and Kunimi knew they should feel happy, but all they could feel was an overwhelming sense of guilt. 

  
  


The next week, Kageyama still hadn’t returned and if anything, he became very adept at hiding from everyone in break times. Kindaichi couldn’t focus on anything without seeing his former friend’s face in the background, crumbling in pain and confusion. It got to the point where they decided to meet with the only other people that maybe understood Kageyama to help figure out what to do next. 

Kindaichi and Kunimi walked across the street, smiling at their two senpai who were waving at them in their Seijoh gym uniforms. 

“Kunimi-chan! Kin-chan! It’s been way too long we were so happy to get a call from you both!” Oikawa attacked them both in a hug while Iwaizumi settled for hair ruffles. 

“How about we get some lunch while we talk.” Iwaizumi suggested, still unsure of what his kouhai wanted with them all out of the blue. They settled on a simple ramen shop in the corner of the street that none of them had tried before. It looked warm and inviting, a stark contrast to the biting cold of January. 

They entered and sat in a booth waiting for a server. As they waited, Oikawa decided to address the elephant in the room. “So, not that we aren’t pleased to see you, but you both sounded upset on the phone. What’s going on?”

Kindaichi and Kunimi glanced at each other before Kindaichi finally spoke. “It’s about-”

“Kageyama!” Iwaizumi’s voice interrupted him. Kindaichi looked up, about to ask his senpai how he knew that but instead he followed his senpai’s gaze to where their server had appeared. 

The four customers started at their waiter. Kageyama held some menus and looked extremely uncomfortable, but he decided that seeing as he wanted to gt payed, he would have to swallow down his emotions (something he had been doing a lot of recently), and serve his former team. 

“Um hi welcome to the restaurant. Here’s the menus. I’ll be back in a bit for your drink orders, please take your time and I….hope you enjoy your meal.” Kageyama spoke as evenly as possible to hide how close to tears he was. He pointedly ignored three out of the four faces instead only glancing at Iwaizumi when he had to before scurrying off into the kitchen at the back. 

A beat of silence before: “Tobio-chan has a job? How does he have time with all his practicing?”

“He doesn’t…”

“Doesn’t what? Have time?” Iwaizumi began to look concerned at the thought of Kageyama overworking himself. 

“Doesn't have….practice. He’s off the team.” Kunimi spoke softly.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi gaped at the younger ones. The mere idea of Kageyama giving up volleyball was unheard of. Unfortunately, after hearing the story from Kindaichi and Kunimi, it became apparent that there were just too many issues in their former team that even Iwaizumi had to admit that Kageyama being off the team would probably be the best for everyone. Kindaichi and Kunimi left their senpai with a promise to see them in a couple of weeks and much lighter hearts now that they knew their actions were supported. 

Kageyama was spiraling. Without volleyball, guilt consumed his heart. He felt like a disappointment at tainting the game that his grandpa loved and he couldn’t even ask him for advice for how to make it better. The guilt was drowning him and sometimes, he thought he could hear his grandpa in his dreams, always sounding so broken and disappointed in Kageyama making him constantly wake up in tears. 

Two weeks later, things finally climaxed.

  
  


After that chance meeting, the next time the four former teammates saw Kageyama was two weeks later, across the street in the downtown area. At first Oikawa joked they were being stalked, but after looking at Kageyama a little longer, he began to grow concerned. It had only been two weeks since the restaurant encounter, but Kageyama looked drastically worse. 

His clothes looked a lot looser on him, which shouldn’t be happening to a boy with an athletic build. He had bags under his eyes that they could see clearly from across the street, and probably the most concerning of all was how Kageyama was swaying in place, clearly unsteady on his feet from exhaustion. They watched as Kageyama looked up and locked eyes with them, but as he tried to turn around he ended up collapsing on the floor instead. 

The other passersbys were reasonably shocked, but before someone could call for police or an ambulance, four other boys crossed the street and immediately surrounded the fifth one. Oikawa felt his heart hammering in his chest as he picked up Kageyama’s head gently off the ground. Thankfully there was no blood, but now up close, he somehow looked much worse than they thought.

While Iwaizumi and Kunimi were placating the audience that had surrounded them, Kindaichi called an ambulance. Finally, after getting Kageyama into the vehicle, the boys made their way to the hospital, hoping to get to the bottom of this. 

  
  


Kageyama woke up feeling both better and worse than he had in months. Blinking up at the harsh lights, he took a second to reorient himself before jolting up when he realized that the beeping sound wasn’t because of his alarm, it was because he was in the hospital. He couldn’t be in the hospital...the hospital was where he said goodbye to his grandpa...he didn’t want to go through that again...he..he….

“Oi Kageyama breathe. Just take it slowly okay? Match your breathing to mine.” A soothing voice cut through his panic and he felt his hand being placed on a sturdy chest. The tunnel vision Kageyama had began to slowly widen, and he realized he was in a warm and steady embrace. Finally, after Kageyama felt like he could control his breathing, he looked up at his savior. 

“Iwaizumi-san?” he spoke softly before looking around and noticing three other people with concern written all over their faces staring back at him. 

“What...what’re you guys doing here?”

“You collapsed in the middle of the sidewalk. Luckily for you, we were right across the street and called an ambulance. They said you’re malnourished and running on a lack of sleep. Not to mention the fact that you sprained your wrist when you fell.” Oikawa’s voice snapped out angrily as he tried his best to cover up his concern. 

Kageyama looked down guiltily. He couldn’t do anything right it seemed. He couldn't fulfill his promise to his grandpa, and he couldn’t stop causing trouble for Kindaichi and Kunimi after all he put them through. 

Kageyama felt one, two tears running down his cheeks. He furiously began to wipe them away, hoping they wouldn’t be noticed but unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough. 

“Kageyama…..are you okay?” Kindaichi finally asked a question that he should have asked a long time ago. Hearing the concern in his former friend’s voice was all it took for the dam that Kageyama had been building up all year to burst and crash down all at once. 

“I MISS MY GRANDPA!” Kageyama sobbed, frantically clutching at Iwaizumi’s shirt as the elder wrapped his arms around tighter. Kageyama continued to sob, yelling out apologies to Kindiachi and Kunimi for his behaviour. He sobbed out apologies to Oikawa who looked extremely uncomfortable hearing them. Eventually, his words lost any meaning as they turned into incoherent babble as Kageyama finally began to calm down. 

Iwaizumi took that as his cue to begin speaking to him in soft tones, gently shushing him and telling him it was going to be okay. Kageyama shook his head at that. “I-it's not okay. It can’t be okay, I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.”

“What do you mean Kageyama?” Iwaizumi’s concern grew. 

Kageyama began to detail everything that had happened, from watching his grandpa get sicker, to finally getting a call in school that he needed to head over to the hospital now if he wanted to say goodbye. He spoke about how he promised his grandpa on his dying bed he would make him proud and get to nationals, and about how hard it was to plan for a funeral. He began to sob again as he talked about job hunting, and not having any money unless he wanted to use the emergency savings which he couldn’t do because that was the money for him and grandpa and if they both couldn’t use it then what was the point. He spoke about how he pushed the team to become better to fulfill his agenda without realizing how bad things were becoming. Kageyama spoke and spoke and spoke until there wasn’t a dry eye left in his hospital room. 

Finally, Kageyama finished speaking. No one said anything, only the sounds of quiet sobbing filled the room. Finally, Kindaichi launched himself at Kageyama’s other side and sobbed into his shoulder begging for forgiveness for not trying to figure out what was wrong sooner. Kunimi came from the back and gave his agreement to what Kindaichi was saying. Finally, they all looked up at the sound of Oikawa’s voice.

“Tobio-chan. He would be proud of you okay? No matter how badly you think you messed up, I’m sure he’d be proud of you. It’s hard not to be proud of someone like you.” Oikawa spoke as he approached his kouhai before completing the group hug, surrounding Kageyama with love and warmth from all sides. 

  
  
  
  


A year later, Kageyama walked through the cemetery before finally laying eyes on the person he came to see. He closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them slowly, tears entering his eyes. 

“Hey grandpa.” He spoke slowly. “I….I finally managed to fulfill my promise to you. We’re going to spring nationals!” Kageyama felt pride entering his voice as he tried to imagine his grandpa's reaction. He knew it would have been a good one. Turning around, he smiled at the others. 

“Grandpa. These are four of my friends. We’re on the team together at Seijoh. I couldn’t have done it without them.” 

The other four smiled with tears of their own, pride filling their hearts at finally being able to help their friend fulfill his promise and knowing that whatever happened next, things would be alright as long as they had each other. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I want more Kageyama being taken care of so I wrote this. Give me ideas and I'll do my best! Hope you all enjoy reading!


End file.
